Visiting Mrs. Vea

We went to visit with Mom's good friend Mrs. Vea today. She fell about 2 months ago & fractured one of her vertebrae so has not been getting out of the house until recently. Earlier she was in a wheelchair because she was in so much pain. She is now getting around with a walker and her spirits are high. She told Mom she had to listen to what Curtis & I tell her to do.

Mrs Vea & Mom.

It didn't make a difference, Mom still argues that she doesn't need to do what we tell her to do. Tonight she did not want to walk with her cane, sit down on the seat when she was in the shower or later when we were putting the lotion on, or put enough lotion on to keep from itching. This side effect of the dementia is very frustrating, because she doesn't make any sense when she argues. Tonight she said I did not need to take care of her because she was not paying me so I was not a caretaker. Then she said she would sign a statement saying I was not her caretaker so I was not responsible for anything that happened to her; she did not realize that with the dementia that signed statement would be meaningless. Oh well. After her shower it was all forgotten, my main strategy to deal with the less than rational thoughts is to wait.

I am getting closer to getting a new 2016 Subaru Outback, which will be a lot better for Mom & Dad; it will be a lot easier for them to get in and out of than the RAV4. I stopped by the dealership to put down a deposit to hold the car while I get the rest of the paperwork together. I need to contact my insurance agent & have an insurance binder showing that the credit union is the lien holder. Then I need to take the purchase order & insurance binder to the credit union to get the loan approved & the check sent to the dealer. I need to give the dealer 2 days to prep the car for pick up. It turns out, if I had bought the car on the Big Island there would be an additional dealer fee. It's probably a wash since it will cost me about $450 to ship the car to the Big Island when I move there permanently; but in the meanwhile it is easier on Mom & Dad.

It will also be a lot safer; it has 7 airbags, one in front of the driver, the front passenger, & the left and right rear passenger seats, curtain airbags on both sides, and 1 at the driver's knees. The other feature that I think will be great is the seat warmers in the front seats. Kai's old Volvo had seat warmers and they were great in the winter; I could overlook all the other idiosyncracies of that car when I drove it as long as my butt was warm. I don't need that here, but Mom really does due to the anemia caused by the leukemia. That along with the individual heating/cooling controls for the driver and front passenger will really help keep her warm when it is 80 degrees F in the car and I am sweating and she is freezing.

Happy Birthday to niece Sarah! And also to Jesse, Eric, Lynne, and Ava!